Influencer PR: Strategies, Tips, and Best Practices

Is influencer PR really any good? Does it not just feel inauthentic and scripted, looking like your favorite content creator has a gun to their head off camera? Not if you’re doing it right.

We’re going to cover how influencer PR works and how you can utilize it, from setting goals and finding the right influencers to building lasting relationships and handling the occasional PR storm.

But first, let’s clarify what influencer PR actually means and why it’s become such a buzzword in modern communications.

What Is Influencer PR?

Influencer PR is the practice of using social media influencers as part of your public relations strategy. It’s traditional PR meeting influencer marketing. You’re collaborating with influential creators who already have your audience’s ear.

These influencers become your brand storytellers and advocates. Essentially, influencer PR just means building relationships with creators to earn media coverage and online buzz in a way that feels organic.

This approach has surged as social media democratized who shapes public opinion. A decade ago, a PR campaign might hinge on getting an article in a top magazine or a 30-second TV segment.

In fact, surveys show that people increasingly seek information and recommendations from influencers over brands or traditional celebs. According to our research, 30% of consumers trust influencers more now than they did six months prior. People trust people, especially those who speak their language online.

Ed Sheeran x Heinz

@teddysphotos

Ed Sheeran

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Yo @heinz I have an idea for a tv ad if you wanna do one, if not I won’t be offended, I could never be mad at you. Slide in my DMs or have your people call my people. Lots of love, your biggest fan x

10:24 AM Apr 3, 2019

1049530 likes

Influencer PR vs. Traditional PR

How is influencer PR really different from the old-school PR we know?

Channels & Gatekeepers

In traditional PR, you work through people like journalists and editors. There’s a formal vetting process where your story has to convince a reporter or survive an editor’s cut.

Influencer PR cuts out those gatekeepers. You collaborate directly with influencers who have built their own media channels. That YouTuber with 500k subscribers is effectively a media outlet themselves. This means faster turnaround and often more creative freedom, but also less of the institutional “filter” that traditional media provides.

Audience Targeting

Traditional PR (like a feature in Forbes or on CNN) gives you broad reach but not much precision. Influencer PR allows hyper-targeting. If you’re a niche tech gadget brand, a tech vlogger who speaks exactly to your ideal customers is far more targeted than a general news article. You’re reaching the people most likely to care, in a context that’s relevant to them.

Trust and Authenticity

This is arguably the crux. Traditional PR gains trust by association with reputable outlets. “As seen in the New York Times” carries clout. Influencer PR gains trust via personal relationships. Followers often see their favorite influencer as a friend or an expert they chose to follow.

So an influencer’s positive mention can carry the same weight as, or even more than, a neutral news piece. And there’s data to back this: One study found 85% of marketing professionals believe influencer marketing is effective, which shows that brands recognize how much consumer trust has shifted to these digital personalities.

Cost and ROI

Traditional PR can be expensive in terms of effort (PR agencies, press events, etc.) and sometimes paid placements or advertorials. And it’s notoriously hard to measure ROI except in broad terms (impressions, AVEs, etc.).

Influencer PR can often be more cost-effective and measurable. Many influencers (especially micro-influencers) charge far less than a full-page magazine ad, yet bring strong engagement.

For example, a PR placement might “reach” 1 million readers, but how many actually engage? Except an influencer with 50k followers might get 10k of them to actively like/comment on a brand mention.

And influencers tend to charge anywhere from $10 to $10,000 per post, with an average around $500, which is often a fraction of what traditional campaigns might cost for similar or greater engagement.

Plus, influencer collaborations can provide content that you can reuse and even SEO benefits (if they blog about you or link to your site).

The Role of Influencers in Modern Brand Storytelling

Was the last time you really connected with a brand story from a press release or an advertisement? Or did it come from a YouTube video or an Instagram post where someone you follow shared their experience with the brand?

It’s the latter for most consumers today. Influencers show how your product is just a part of their daily life or they turn it into a story. A travel influencer doesn’t say “This suitcase is great because it has 4 wheels.” They talk about how that suitcase survived cobblestone streets in Rome and really surprised them.

A fitness influencer doesn’t post “Try this protein shake, it has 20g of protein.” They share how the shake fits into their daily 5 AM workout routine and how it helped their recovery when training for a marathon. These narratives are way more emotive.

Perhaps the simplest way to put it: Influencers make brand stories believable. Consumers (especially younger ones) are skeptical of polished advertising, so an influencer’s candid vlog or unfiltered post about a brand experience is the modern “word-of-mouth.”

How to Set Up the Groundwork for a Strong Influencer PR Strategy

Cover these bases before you even start making a list of potential influencers:

How to Find the Right Influencers for PR Campaigns

You’re looking for influencers with the most relevance and credibility for your message. Not just the ones with the most followers. Here’s how to find and vet them:

How to Build Relationships with Influencers

Here’s how to start and nurture these connections:

Craft the First Outreach Email That Doesn’t Sound Like Spam

Influencers, especially those in high demand, receive a ton of inquiries. Your mission is to stand out in their inbox (or DMs) for the right reasons.

The first message you send is crucial. It needs to be professional yet personable, clearly not a mass blast (even if you’re contacting several people with a template, you must personalize it), and it should quickly convey why you are reaching out to them specifically.

Tips for that first email/DM:

Personalize It

This cannot be overstated. Use their name (and double-check spelling!). Mention something specific you admire about their content or something they recently did. For instance, “Hi Sarah, I loved your recent Instagram story about reducing plastic waste, your tip about reusable produce bags was great!” This shows you actually follow them and care about what they post.

It immediately separates you from spammy templated pitches that start with “Dear influencer” or a generic compliment like “love your content” with no specifics.

Keep It Short and Clear

Don’t send a five-paragraph essay. A brief intro of who you are (one sentence about your role and what your company does), followed by why you’re reaching out.

Provide Credibility Links (Optional but Helpful)

If your brand isn’t widely known or you want them to get a quick sense of it, include one or two links. Nothing crazy, just so they don’t have to Google who you are if they’re curious.

If you have done an influencer collab before that went well and is public, maybe link to that as an example.

Avoid Spam Triggers

This is more email deliverability, but avoid subject lines or phrasing that looks spammy or click baity. A straightforward subject like “Collaboration Opportunity with [Brand Name]” or “[Brand] x [InfluencerName] idea” can work.

The body should avoid weird formatting, all caps, excessive exclamation marks, etc. It should look like a normal email from a person.

Use a Real Email Identity

Use your actual name and position, not just a “social@brand.com” generic address. People are more likely to respond to a human.

Show You’ve Done Your Homework (And Why That’s Non-Negotiable)

Here’s how to show your homework. This is important since it should prevent mismatches and miscommunications that could derail a campaign later:

Understand Their Audience and Content Niche

When you propose a collaboration, tailor it to their style. If you know from homework that they prefer long-form reviews on YouTube, don’t pitch only an Instagram picture campaign.

Or if they’re passionate about storytelling, propose a campaign idea that involves narrative (like them sharing a personal story related to your brand). You’re showing that you understand what their followers value.

Mention Past Content and Connect the Dots

If they previously discussed something adjacent to your brand, bring it up. E.g., “Last month, you posted about the challenges of finding vegan protein sources - that caught our eye because our new product is a vegan protein shake that was created exactly to solve that problem.”

You’re aligning your pitch with something they’ve publicly expressed. It’s very convincing and feels organic. It also can excite them: “Oh yes, I did struggle with that, and here’s a brand addressing it.”

Be Aware of Their Collab History

As part of homework, you likely looked at past brand partnerships. Use that intel. “We saw you partnered with [Other Brand] on a limited edition release - we loved how you involved your followers in the design process for that. It gave us an idea: what if…” This shows you really paid attention to how they operate and you respect their creative process. It also signals you’re not asking them to do anything out of character.

Collaborate: Don’t Just Instruct

What does true collaboration look like?

Be Open to Their Format and Storytelling Style

You might have envisioned a static Instagram post, but the influencer knows their audience engages more with carousel albums or Reels or a funny skit. Be open to adjusting formats.

Or perhaps you thought of a straight review, but they suggest incorporating your product into a challenge or a narrative vlog. As long as it meets your objectives, go with it!

Avoid Overly Scripted Talking Points

Provide key points or facts you’d like them to cover, but don’t write a word-for-word script. First, most influencers won’t follow a script exactly (it’ll sound unnatural to their audience). Second, it indicates you don’t trust them to communicate effectively.

Instead, share the must-hit info and trust them to put it in their own words. Influencers know how to talk to their followers, so let them phrase things in a way that feels real and more relatable.

Flexibility

In PR, things can change (maybe a campaign angle shifts due to external events, etc). If you have to adjust the course, bring the influencer into that conversation.

Or if they reach out needing a change (“I’m sick this week, can I post next week instead?” or “This part isn’t working as I thought, can we pivot the video concept bit?”), be flexible if possible.

How to Turn a One-Time Mention into an Ongoing PR Ally

Ideally, after an influencer works with you once, they’re someone you can hit up again in the future:

Offer them Perks like an Insider

Consider adding them to your PR list for future news: even if you’re not paying them, you can say, “We’d love to keep you in the loop about our new projects; can we send you our quarterly insiders’ newsletter or invite you to beta test new products?”

If they agree, they’ll feel like an insider. A beauty brand might send its influencer partners all its new collection products as a gesture, which often results in them sharing it organically just because they got it and love it (free publicity!).

Evolve the Partnership

Perhaps the first time was just a sponsored post. Next time, maybe they can be a bigger part, like a longer series or become the face of a seasonal campaign. Influencers often appreciate being leveled up if they like your brand.

Recognize and Celebrate Them

In your brand’s channels, don’t shy away from spotlighting your influencer partners. For example, write a blog or LinkedIn post case study about the campaign (praising their creativity), or mention them in a press release (“...our campaign featuring [Influencer] reached over …”).

Ask for Their Ideas for the Future

Make it clear you welcome their input on future collabs. “If you ever have an idea of something cool we could do together, let us know! We’re always open to creative suggestions.”

Basic Relationship Maintenance

As you would with a good journalist contact: send a friendly note on occasion not tied to a project. Wish them happy holidays, congrats on hitting a follower milestone, etc. So you’re not only reaching out when you need something.

Influencer PR Tactics That Actually Work

What can you do to get more from influencer collaborations?

Best Practices for Managing Influencer PR Campaigns

These are some of the best practices to get quality results:

Create Clear but Flexible Briefs

A well-crafted brief is your campaign’s foundation. What does it look like?

Deliverables and Format Expectations

Spell out what content is expected and on which platforms, but give them some creative leeway. For example, “1 integrated YouTube mention (30-60 seconds) within a full video, and 3 Instagram Story frames unboxing the shoes.”

If you have visual style preferences or brand assets, include them, but don’t dictate shot-by-shot!

Approval Process (if any)

Clarify if you need to see drafts or not. Many PR collaborations might not require strict approval (to maintain authenticity), but if you do, state how and when to submit, and how quickly you’ll respond with feedback.

Support and Resources

Offer any help: maybe a contact they can ask questions (could be you or a product expert). If you have examples of content you love (maybe similar campaigns, or a tone reference), share one or two as inspiration.

Compensation and Benefits Recap

This might be handled in contract, but it doesn’t hurt in the brief to summarize what they’re getting: “As a reminder, you’ll receive $X for this campaign, plus an affiliate code for ongoing commission.”

Or “We’re sending you the product which is yours to keep, and we’ll feature your content on our website (with credit), which can drive more followers to you.” When they see their ROI too, they remain motivated.

Tone and Style Preferences

If your brand has a voice, articulate it! But do encourage them to remain themselves. For example, “Our main audience is families, so keeping it PG-rated is important.” It just aligns expectations.

Track Mentions Across Blogs, Podcasts, and Social Media

One of the key advantages of influencer PR is that your brand can get mentioned in a variety of places, not just the influencer’s primary platform:

Monitor Blogs and Forums

Set up Google Alerts for your brand and perhaps the campaign theme. There are also blog-specific search engines (or use something like BuzzSumo) to find if smaller bloggers mention you as a result of seeing the influencer’s content. The more you can catch those, the better you understand word-of-mouth spread.

Don’t Forget Podcasts and Video Mentions

If the influencer talked about you on a podcast or YouTube, people might mention it in comments or in other shows! Checking the YouTube comments for that influencer video is obvious (and you should, to glean audience reaction; which is a goldmine for PR insights: are they skeptical, excited, confused? You might adjust messaging based on common questions).

Podcasts are a bit harder to track, but you can search on podcast transcripts if available (some services transcribe episodes), or see if any listeners discuss the podcast episode on social media.

Monitor Sentiment and Address Issues

While ideally the campaign is positive, tracking might surface some criticism or misinformation. If an influencer’s portrayal inadvertently spurs a negative misunderstanding (“I saw on X’s video that this product did Y, is that true?” and it’s not, or someone is badmouthing it), you can decide if/how to intervene.

Maybe supply correct info or at least internally note it for future messaging adjustments. Quick example: an influencer might pronounce a technical term incorrectly or frame a feature incorrectly, which could lead to confusion in their comments.

You could ask them to pin a clarifying comment, or you as a brand can comment to clarify if it seems needed and not overstepping.

Measure Sentiment, Not Just Traffic

Hard metrics like referral traffic or sales lift are important, but in PR we are often aiming for something a bit more intangible yet crucial: how people feel about our brand.

How to do it:

Gather Sentiment Data

Many social listening tools can gauge sentiment (positive/negative/neutral) on brand mentions or certain keywords.

After the campaign, look at the sentiment around your brand compared to before. Did the ratio of positive mentions increase? That suggests the campaign put more people in a favorable mood about you.

Read Comments and Conversations

Actually read through comments on the influencer’s posts, forum discussions, quote tweets, etc. Qualitative insights are gold.

These give clues to public perception shifts or issues to address. Sometimes, just one comment like “This story honestly made me love Brand X, well done” is worth more than 100 likes.

Look at Brand Search and Social Following Trends

This is partly a numeric metric, but it’s sentiment-reflective if after a campaign your brand’s social accounts see an uptick in followers or your Google search volume rises.

It indicates increased interest and likely positive curiosity. Also, check if more user-generated content appears (people posting about your brand voluntarily), because that often stems from positive sentiment.

Avoid Overly Scripted Talking Points

Why should you avoid heavy scripting?

• The audience can tell
• Influencers get uncomfortable
• Lost opportunities for genuine anecdotes

What to do instead:

• Provide bullets, not full scripts
• Encourage personalization
• Allow imperfections
• Give them a casual briefing call or demo beforehand, rather than writing lines for them
• Trust their expertise in phrasing
• Review content lightly
• Outcome over exact words

How to Handle PR Crises or Negative Press from Influencers

Influencer campaigns, like any public-facing initiative, carry risk. Let’s go over some steps on how to manage that risk should it all go wrong:

Know When to Respond and When to Stay Quiet

Part of crisis management is discerning the level of response needed.

• Initial Response Tactic: For minor flare-ups, sometimes a simple, calm statement in the same channel might suffice. E.g., if someone misinterpreted something in the influencer content and is complaining on Insta, the brand or influencer can calmly clarify in a comment.

  That might put it to rest. For bigger things, you might need a more formal statement or press release.

• Consult Your PR/Crisis Plan: Ideally, you have a crisis comms plan for general scenarios. Adapt it to influencer situations!

• Avoid Knee-Jerk Overreaction: Respond proportionally. For example, if an influencer’s joke in content is taken wrongly by a handful but isn’t actually offensive, you may not need a public apology, just let the influencer maybe explain or adjust.

  Over-apologizing or making dramatic moves can sometimes validate a non-issue as an issue to more people.

But likewise, under-reacting to real harm can cost you (as seen in many brand crises where initial silence or dismissiveness actually made the backlash worse).

Have a Crisis Communication Plan Before You Need One

Preparation is everything!

Approval on Crisis Messaging

Pre-decide who crafts responses (PR lead), who approves (maybe CEO or legal), and how quickly you aim to respond. In influencer cases, sometimes speed is key, especially on social media.

If your brand is trending for wrong reasons, even a “We’re aware and evaluating the situation” post within hours can help stop speculation until you’re ready to give a fuller response.

Monitoring Signals

As in tracking, make sure you have alerts set for unusual spikes in negativity. If one video usually yields 95% positive comments and today it’s 50-50 or a negative hashtag starts trending, you need to know immediately to get your crisis team together.

Document and Learn

Post-crisis, do a debrief. What signs did we miss? How did our plan work or fail? Use it to refine future approaches.

Perhaps you realize “We should add a clause to brief influencers not to engage in X type of behavior during the campaign” or “We need faster internal approvals next time.”

How to Rebuild Relationships After a Public Misstep

If a blow-up happened, once the storm passes, you should focus on restoring trust with your audience:

Public Follow-Through

If you promised something in your apology or statement, do it! For example, if the influencer did something weird and you said you’ll ensure better oversight, maybe later show how you implemented stricter selection or training.

Or if your brand or your influencer offended a group and pledged donation or corrective action, quietly (or publicly if appropriate) complete that.

Transparent Communication

Even after the immediate crisis is over, at least try to keep communication lines open with your audience on that topic. For instance, if it was a product issue that came to light after an influencer had been promoting your product, give updates (“We’ve fixed that product flaw” or “We are continuing to receive feedback and improve.”).

Just don’t go radio silent and pretend it never happened because that can make the audience feel you only spoke up to save face, not because you truly care.

Showcases of Positivity

This one comes a bit later, but think about flooding all your social channels with positive stories (earned authentically) to overshadow the crisis memory over time. Not in an obvious way, but just resume good work

For instance, if you were criticized for some diversity-related issue, try to highlight diversity-positive actions going forward (again, genuinely).

Measure the Impact of Your Influencer PR Efforts

You naturally need to step back and see if you’ve achieved what you set out to do once you’ve finished your influencer PR campaign.

Metrics That Matter: Coverage, Mentions, and Trust Signals

Your main metrics in influencer PR include:

Coverage Volume

Tally how many influencer posts went out (and by how many influencers) for a given campaign. But beyond planned content, include earned media mentions. So that’s how many:

• Articles
• Blog posts
• Forums threads
• Secondary shares

Impressions/Views

Classic metric, how many eyes possibly saw it. Each influencer can provide reach stats:

• Video views
• Story views
• Blog unique visitors
• Comments

Sum these up so you’ve got a ballpark total reach. It’s just potential eyeballs, not necessarily engagement, but it’s still good to know if the scale matched expectations (“We aimed for 1 million impressions and got 1.2M”).

Sentiment and Trust Signals

As we discussed, measure sentiment on brand mentions. Did positive sentiment % rise? Also look for trust-related keywords in comments or posts: e.g., people (maybe not so explicitly) saying ”I trust this now”, “I love that Brand X is doing Y”, etc.

Tools to Track PR Wins and Misses

Use these tools to see how well your PR is doing:

Media Monitoring Tools

Cision, Meltwater, etc., can track online news and your social media feeds. They often allow you to set campaigns or keywords so you can isolate influencer-related coverage vs general.

They can also give ad equivalency metrics (which old-school execs sometimes want). Use these carefully; they might attribute a value to a piece of coverage (like “this blog mention is worth $X in ad spend”), which can be debated, but if your org likes that metric, it’s there.

Affiliate/UTM Dashboards

Affiliate marketing platforms or Google Analytics can show how many clicks and conversions each influencer link drove in one place.

Surveys/Polls

Use tools like SurveyMonkey, Pollfish, etc. to do quick brand lift surveys. Facebook and YouTube also offer brand lift studies if you do paid influencer content amplification through their ad tools.

But if you want a more informal check, Instagram polls on your own audience “Did you see our collab with X? What did you think?” can be good for direct public feedback.

How to Use Influencer Feedback to Shape Future Campaigns

After measuring outcomes, also debrief with the influencers themselves. They have boots-on-the-ground insight into their audience’s reactions and the campaign process.

• Ask For Their Perspective: What did they hear from their followers? Did something click or fall flat? Maybe their fans loved the behind-the-scenes angle but skipped the technical parts. That’s good to know for future messaging to that audience.

  Or perhaps they got DMs asking questions that show you’re not clear enough about certain information. For example, if your influencer says, “A lot of people asked if your product is cruelty-free, so I answered because it is, but maybe highlight that next time because clearly people care, “ that’s valuable intel.

• Review the Collaboration Process: Did they feel they had enough creative freedom? Did the briefing prepare them well? This is going to show how willing they are to work again and also how they talk about you in industry circles.

  If they feel stifled, maybe adjust your approach. But if they loved your product but found the content guidelines a bit too much, streamline them next time!

Examples of Effective Influencer PR

What does good influencer PR look like?

Example 1: Fenty Beauty’s Inclusive Influencer Campaign

When Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty launched, it famously used a network of diverse beauty micro-influencers and mega-influencers to spread the word about its 40-shade foundation line.

This was a story-led campaign around inclusivity. Influencers of various skin tones shared personal anecdotes of them struggling to find the right shade until Fenty came along. These were authentic testimonials that fit into tutorials (they weren’t just “buy this foundation” but “here’s me finally finding a match and feeling confident”).

Crystal Nicole avatar

@beingcrystalnicolee

Crystal Nicole

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FENTY REACHED OUT and I cant believe it! Will I FINALLY find my match in the @Fenty Beauty soft lit foundation?! 👀 #fentybeauty #fyp #foundation #rihanna #luminousfoundation #dailyvlog

1:35 PM May 20, 2024

26434

The brand provided early access (invite-only launch events where influencers could try everything) and let them post honest reviews. This resulted in a massive buzz not just in social media but in the mainstream press about Fenty’s diversity stance.

Sentiment was overwhelmingly positive. The campaign didn’t just drive sales (which it did, selling out many shades) but showed that Fenty was a game-changer in beauty inclusivity. It garnered trust and credibility that traditional ads alone could never have achieved.

After all that, Fenty became synonymous with inclusivity, which was largely through those influencer stories that the media amplified.

Example 2: Dove’s Ongoing Real Beauty Ambassadors

Dove’s Real Beauty campaign has spanned over a decade, and in recent years, they’ve included body-positive influencers as ongoing PR allies. Instead of one-off posts, influencers like Gabi Fresh (a plus-size fashion icon) became de facto ambassadors who regularly shares Dove’s whole self-acceptance message in her own content.

This consistent alignment meant that these influencers amplified it and provided their own take whenever Dove did a new Real Beauty activation (like a short film or an event).

They might go live on IG and talk about overcoming body image issues, casually mentioning Dove as a brand that supports this cause (sometimes with subtle product placement, often not even). It’s influencer PR in a long-term, less flashy format but incredibly powerful.

Dove Instagram Post

@dove

Dove

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It’s happening: the amazing @GabiFresh and Shaianne are taking over our stories with the Dove Self-Esteem Project – and they want your questions! What do you want to know about their confidence journeys and the power of mentorship and self-esteem? Let us know below – and look out for their stories all day today. #HourWithHer #Dove #RealBeauty #SelfEsteem #ConfidentGirl

11:05 AM May 31, 2018

1258 likes

To Sum Up

Influencers today are trendsetters and trusted voices for millions of people, which definitely includes your audience. You’d be remiss not to at least test a partnership with these content creators and check whether it’ll have a good impact on your company.

Just remember to measure what matters and keep it all authentic. Do that, and you’ll be well on your way to crafting influencer PR campaigns that are genuinely listened to!